San Jose holds emergency-management study session, runs tabletop earthquake exercise

San Jose city officials and emergency-management staff held a City Council study session focused on the city's emergency response organization, ran a tabletop exercise modeled on a hypothetical 7.2 earthquake on the Hayward Fault and reviewed roles, staffing and communications priorities for the first 24 hours of a major event.

The session, led by Ray Reardon, director of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and senior staff, emphasized the city's new Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the Disaster District Office (DDO) concept for council districts and the need to prioritize equity for vulnerable residents during response and recovery. City Manager Jennifer McGuire opened the session by thanking the OEM team and stressing that equity must be incorporated throughout planning, response and recovery.

"Their tireless efforts, dedication, and adaptability have been instrumental in protecting the health and well-being of our community," McGuire said, adding that elected leaders' support, guidance and communication with constituents are vital. Reardon later reviewed the city's recent activations and capabilities and noted that the OEM has responded to 15 incidents since the start of the COVID response and cumulatively has spent more than 99 days as an integrated incident management team or EOC staff on those activations.

Why it matters

Officials said frequent activations and training improve organizational "muscle memory" for incident response and that early EOC activation and centralized communications can materially affect outcomes. Jennifer Schembri, deputy city manager and EOC…